Conventionally, a slide fastener having waterproof property (waterproof slide fastener, hereinafter) is frequently used for an opening/closing portion or an opening of a wet suit and waterproof pants to prevent liquid such as water from entering the wet suit or the waterproof pants when the opening/closing portion or the opening is closed.
Usually, the waterproof slide fastener includes a pair of left and right fastener stringers having element rows formed on waterproof tapes having waterproof layers, and sliders which can slide along the element rows. The left and right element rows are made to couple with each other to bring opposed side edge portions of the left and right waterproof tapes come into intimate contact with each other, thereby preventing water from entering from a front surface into a back surface of the tape (or from back surface to front surface of tape) from between the left and right waterproof tapes.
In such a waterproof slide fastener, stoppers are often placed on both ends of the element rows, and the stoppers restrict sliding ranges of the sliders. Here, of the stoppers placed on the both ends of the element rows, the one on a side with which the slider comes into contact when the left and right element rows completely open is defined as a first stopper (also called lower stopper), and the other one on a side with which the slider comes into contact when the left and right element rows are completely closed is defined as a second stopper (also called upper stopper).
In the following description, a vertical direction means a length direction of a fastener tape, and the vertical direction is the same as a sliding direction in which the slider slides. Especially, a direction in which the left and right element rows are made to couple with each other and the slider is made to slide to close the slide fastener is defined as an upward direction, and a direction in which the slider is made to slide to separate the left and right fastener elements and open the slide fastener is defined as a downward direction.
A lateral direction means a tape width direction of the fastener tape, and the lateral direction is parallel to a tape surface of the fastener tape and is a direction intersecting with a tape length direction at right angles. A longitudinal direction means a front and back direction of the fastener tape intersecting with the tape surface of the fastener tape at right angles, a direction in which a tab of the slider is placed with respect to the fastener tape is defined as a front direction, and its opposite direction is defined as a rear direction.
A structure of the first stopper (lower stopper) placed on the waterproof slide fastener is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-215819 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-206986 (Patent Document 2) for example.
As shown in FIG. 11, a waterproof slide fastener 70 described in Patent Document 1 includes a pair of left and right fastener stringers 71 having a plurality of synthetic resin fastener elements 73 injection molded on tape side edge portions of waterproof tapes 72, a slider (not shown), and first stoppers 74 fixed to lower ends of the left and right fastener stringers 71. The first stoppers 74 define a lower limit position of a sliding range of the slider.
The first stoppers 74 of Patent Document 1 includes sheet members 75 adhered or welded such that the sheet members 75 straddle the left and right waterproof tapes 72, stopper body portions 76 formed on the waterproof tapes 72 and the sheet members 75, and a projecting portion 77 upwardly projecting from the stopper body portions 76.
The sheet member 75 in the first stopper 74 is formed by attaching a thermoplastic elastomer or a synthetic rubber to a surface of woven basic cloth or nonwoven fabric, and the sheet member 75 is made of resin film. The sheet member 75 is adhered to or welded onto a back surface of a tape in a region (space portion) where the fastener element 73 of the waterproof tape 72 is not placed such that the sheet member 75 extends between the left and right waterproof tapes 72. The sheet member 75 includes a wide width portion 75a having a wide tape width direction and a narrow width portion 75b upwardly extending from the wide width portion 75a and having a narrow tape width direction. A tip end edge of the narrow width portion 75b is in contact with the fastener element 73.
Each of the stopper body portions 76 is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape by injection molding thermoplastic resin having the same material as that of the fastener element 73 onto the waterproof tape 72 and the sheet member 75. The stopper body portion 76 includes a first half (tape front surface side half) placed on a tape front surface side and a second half (tape back surface side half) placed on a tape back surface side. The first half and the second half are integrally connected to each other through a through-hole 78 drilled in the waterproof tape 72 and the sheet member 75.
The projecting portion 77 is placed on the fastener stringer 71 on a side where the fastener element 73 (first element) which is adjacent to the first stopper 74 is not placed such that the projecting portion 77 upwardly projects from an upper surface of the stopper body portion 76. The projecting portion 77 is configured such that it can be inserted into an element guide path of the slider when the slider comes into contact with the stopper body portion 76. Since such a projecting portion 77 is placed, it is possible to reliably carry out a sliding operation of the slider in the vicinity of the stopper body portion 76.
In the waterproof slide fastener 70 of Patent Document 1 having the first stopper 74, since the sheet member 75 is pasted on the region of a space portion where the fastener element 73 is not placed such that the sheet member 75 straddles the left and right fastener tapes, waterproof property for preventing water from entering can be obtained even in the region of the space portion.
As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, a waterproof slide fastener 80 described in Patent Document 2 includes a pair of left and right fastener stringers 81 in which coil-shaped elements 83 are sewn to tape side edge portions of waterproof tapes 82, a slider (not shown), and a first stopper 84 placed on lower ends of the left and right fastener stringers 81.
In this case, a waterproof layer made of waterproof material such as polyurethane is formed on each of the fastener stringers 81 only on one of tape surfaces (tape front surface) in the fastener tape, and the coil-shaped elements 83 are sewn to the other tape surface (tape back surface) where the waterproof layer of the fastener tape is not formed.
The first stopper 84 of Patent Document 2 includes a stopper body portion 85 with which the slider contacts and stops, a front surface side cover portion 86 placed such that it covers the entire left and right waterproof tapes 82 in a tape width direction on a tape front surface side, an extension portion 87 appearing on a tape back surface side of the waterproof tape 82 and downwardly extending along a tape length direction from the stopper body portion 85, and a back surface side cover portion 88 coating a lower end edge of the waterproof tape 82 with a tape back surface side.
As shown in FIG. 14, the first stopper 84 is formed by cutting and removing portions of opposed tape end edges of the pair of waterproof tapes 82 together with the fastener elements 83 to form a space portion 89, and by injection molding polyurethane to fill the space portion 89.
In this case, the stopper body portion 85 is formed such that it rises from the tape front surface sides and the tape back surface sides of the waterproof tapes 82, and portions of the row of elements 83 are embedded in the stopper body portion 85. The front surface side cover portion 86 is formed such that it covers the entire tape region on a lower side from a position higher than the stopper body portion 85. A lower end of the front surface side cover portion 86 is connected to the back surface side cover portion 88 such that the lower end of the front surface side cover portion 86 wraps a lower end edge of the waterproof tape 82. The extension portion 87 is connected to the front surface side cover portion 86 through the space portion 89 which is formed by cutting and removing the waterproof tape 82, and the extension portion 87 covers a portion of a tape inner side edge portion of the waterproof tape 82 with the tape back surface side.
The waterproof slide fastener 80 of Patent Document 2 is configured by cutting and removing portions of the waterproof tapes 82 and the coil-shaped elements 83 to form the space portion 89 and then by injection molding the first stopper 84. Therefore, it is possible to stably form the first stopper 84 into a predetermined shape without receiving influence of the coil-shaped elements 83.